da hood geek

Avengers/Invaders: The Return

Captain America's back? gotcha, yes and no. Fans worldwide were hella hyped when Marvel announced that Alex Ross was making his way back to Marvel. And when they all checked out the teaser image of Captain America, emblazoned with the word "Return" we stood up and all said HELL YEAH. And now, after it has all sunk in, we have at last the truth—Alex Ross, Jim Krueger and Steve Sadowski return to Marvel in 2008 for the 12-part AVENGERS/INVADERS maxi-series—is sure to be a HOT summer.

Uncanny X-Men #500 this July

Everyone knows that I am a HUGE X-men and marvel fan of over 30 years. So it's no surprise that I am marking my calendar for this historic issue coming our way this July. October 2007 we saw the start of Messiah Complex which Marvel Editors believe to be a turning point in the X-Men's 40 year history. A lot of new titles came out of it, including Cable, X-Force and Young X-Men, but sadly some of my favorites were canceled, such as New X-Men. X-Men was also renamed X-Men: Legacy. Marvel has stated the X-Men will come out of Messiah Complex completely changed and fans like myself will be talking about it for years well maybe not years bu5t a really long time lol. The X-men teams disbanded in the aftermath of Messiah Complex, but will reform in Uncanny X-Men #500 which will be the only Marvel comic to date to reach #500 without renumbering throughout the years.

Boondocks

Sean McKeever time has come

“Birds of Prey” writer Sean McKeever announced on his blog Sunday night that he’s leaving the DC Comics title after only five issues. McKeever, best known for his work on books including “The Waiting Place,” “Countdown” and “Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane,” cited stress and commitments to "Teen Titans" as the chief motivators for his decision to leave “Birds of Prey” so soon after his debut.

“It became clear that I was going to be a bit behind on ‘Teen Titans’ from the outset, and I unfortunately took longer to get up to speed than I would have liked,” wrote McKeever. “Because of this, I kept putting off ‘Birds of Prey,’ where my debut was set for the end of the year. The thing is, I generally pride myself by being timely with my work, so the lateness on 'Teen Titans' was stressing me out. The stress bred more lateness, which in turn bred more stress, and by late fall I was behind schedule on both series.”

McKeever’s final issue of “Birds of Prey” will be #117, and is set to go on sale April 23.

Boondocks

The (cartoon) art of living black

Are black cartoonists given short shrift on the comics page?

A group of eight illustrators think so, and they're asking the public and newspaper editors to do something about it. On Feb. 10 -- in the thick of Black History Month -- a group of eight cartoonists will run the same cartoon, a move that challenges editors to not confine black strips into one particular category.

Darrin Bell, a UC Berkeley grad and cartoonist, pens two daily strips, "Candorville" and "Rudy Park," and says comic syndicates understand there's a need for diverse voices. The stumbling block comes with editors, he said.

"I haven't seen more than a handful of newspapers anywhere in the country that have more than two minority strips," Bell said in a release. "It's as if there's a two-strip maximum in most papers."

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Doctor Who #1

Doctor Who #1

Gary Russell (w); Nick Roche (a); Nick Roche (c)

The legendary Doctor Who is back, with the first-ever stories created exclusively for the US market. The Doctor is the last of the Time Lords, survivors of a Great Time War and, along with his loyal friend and companion Martha Jones from London, they stop oppression, darkness and evil spreading throughout the galaxies. They're also on the hunt for the best chocolate milkshakes in the cosmos… and while they track that down, someone else has the Doctor in their sights. As the very last Time Lord out there, he's highly collectable, to the right people... this debut miniseries comes to you courtesy of Doctor Who TV show story editor Gary Russell and artist Nick Roche (The Transformers). Roche and variant artist Joe Corroney provide covers for each issue.

*2 regular covers will be shipped in a 1-to-1 ratio.

FC • $3.99 • 32 pages

New Avengers Annual #2

COVER BY: JIM CHEUNG
WRITER: BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
PENCILS: CARLO PAGULAYAN
INKS: JEFFREY HUET
COLORED BY: JUSTIN PONSOR
THE STORY:
Continuing directly from the pages of NEW AVENGERS #37: The Hood's gang of super-criminals takes the fight right to the Avengers' door!! Its wall-to-wall action and the end of an era for one Avenger and a major defection for another.
This double-sized issue ties into or wraps up threads from Civil War, World War Hulk, both Avengers titles and the upcoming Secret Invasion!! Avengers writer Bendis welcomes rising star Carlo Pagulayan on his Avengers debut...
48 PGS./Rated A …$3.99
On Sale Now

TEEN TITANS: YEAR ONE #1 (OF 6)

Written by Amy Wolfram; Art by Karl Kerschl & Serge Lapointe; Cover by Kerschl

Writer Amy Wolfram (Teen Titans animated series) joins rising star artist Karl Kerschl (ALL-FLASH #1, ROBIN) for a colorful reimagining of how the Teen Titans came together! See how these teammates bonded, and overcame the sheer awkwardness of being teenagers in this explosive 6-issue miniseries that guest-stars the Justice League of America! You may think you know Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Aqualad...but you don't really know the original Teen Titans!

DC Universe  |  32pg.   |  Color  |  $2.99 US

On Sale Now

Red Hulk in EFFECT

Marvel recorded its latest podcast Wednesday afternoon, with writer Jeph Loeb discussing the new “Hulk” title. Loeb spoke with Marvel’s Senior Art Director Jeff Suter about the developments in the first issue, some of the thinking behind the mysterious Red Hulk, and the smash-fests fans can expect in future storylines.

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